Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) review

Old apps

Old smartphone applications will work on Android 3.0, but not always perfectly. Some look pretty stupid in fact, taking up the entire screen. For example, the official Twitter app looks sparse when blown up to full screen.

To be fair that’s not the operating system’s fault, but more that there aren’t currently a lot of Android 3.0-specific applications, although that’s bound to change as the OS becomes more popular.

Keyboard

The large keyboard is very easy to use and type on. Some punctuation can be got at by long-pressing a key, while the auto-correct remains the same as in Android 2.3. We’re pleased to report that cut-and-paste also makes it over from Android 2.3, complete with the bounding arrows to make selecting text easier and faster. In this way, Android keeps up with iOS.

Conclusion

Android 3.0 is a much better tablet experience than simply sticking the smartphone edition on a larger screen. It does a good job of retaining similarities between the two, so that Android 3.0 is instantly useable for Android users. Where Google has improved apps with extra panels, it’s a massive improvement.

However, we found it annoying that some things seem to have gone missing, such as the Power Control Widget. Older apps can end up looking pretty stupid on high resolution screens, too. On the hardware we’ve tested, the transitions and animations aren’t quite as smooth as they are with iOS.

The browser’s a big improvement, but it struggles with some web pages and makes the occasional formatting error. Even so, it’s a big leap forwards and the range of tablets that will be available will mean that there’s serious competition to the iPad 2 for once.